Guild Wars 2

Hey, uh…, Penguin? How many cats do you own? Do they tend to put their backs against the wall when you are around?

I am in Oregon, US, and I can’t connect either.

I don’t know where the op got that screwball idea, but ele’s are extremely fragile. You sneeze on one, it dies.

A “cheese” build is whatever builds an elitest doesn’t like for ‘reasons’.

Wow! People are seriously bored here.

Oh, I don’t know…, perhaps the ‘cannon’ part? Don’t most people here think that glass cannon is the best way to go, hence the popularity of berserker everything?

I wish the distribution of mithril and orichalcum was shifted closer to even. Orichalcum is very rare.

I happen to disagree. It is doable, don’t get me wrong, but the mesmer is probably one of the worst classes in HOT. The necromancer, ranger, and guardian classes far outshine the mesmer. I’m not talking about zerging, here. If you only travel in groups, mesmer is just fine. But if you mostly solo, it isn’t a pretty picture. As it has been pointed out to me by the better mesmer players, the mesmer is primarily a support class, so it does best in a group.

Its not just revenants. PVE mesmers have been killed, also. Actually, you can say that about a lot of the classes.

I’m not surprised. However, you didn’t specify pvp, or at least I didn’t see it if you did. If you had, I wouldn’t have volunteered an opinion about it. I’ve never done pvp so have no opinions about what works or doesn’t work in it.

My guardian uses mace/focus, and I think it is great. My guardian is very hard to kill and I can go against heavy odds and win. I don’t see how you could augment the mace and not make it easy peasy. Well, I still can’t beat a veteran shadow leaper, but none of my other characters can either. My guardian did kill the vet shadow leaper, but only after having gone to the down state . I had the npc down far enough that I was able to finish him and thus get back up, and I don’t really consider that much of a win. But my guardian is the only character of mine that could get even that far.

Shylock.4653:

You should try this
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Dragonhunter_-_DPS/Support
build.

redcomyn.4651:

The people who are saying that you can do core Tyria just by pressing ‘1’, are flat out lying.

The auto attack chain of the hammer is your max dps and gives you perma protection. So yes, you basically just press 1. ;-)

So you found one build on one class that approaches just pressing 1. That isn’t much of an argument. I did use a hammer guardian for a while, but I have moved to more interesting builds. I am not interested in optimizing damage from a character. Instead, I use the weapons that are fun, then make it work for me. As long as I win most fights, I am happy.

I may have been too harsh in the original post, but it peeves me that there are some people (trying to be nice here) who over exaggerate how easy open world pve is. When these people do that over exaggerating, I automatically discount their entire argument. They have shown that they extremely biased and have no desire for a reasonable discussion.

The people who are saying that you can do core Tyria just by pressing ‘1’, are flat out lying. It isn’t possible unless all you do is zerg. Apparently, these so-called elite players only do zerg. I am so impressed (not). When they say that us casuals want it to be so easy in HOT, that all we need to do is press ‘1’, are again lying. No one has ever asked for that.
I mostly solo and I need to use every skill and dodging, especially against champions and veterans.

First, I will say that I only do pve. I have found that my mesmer has a much more difficult time than several of my other characters, at least in the HOT lands. In pvp, you are facing real people, who are a lot smarter than the ai, which means fights will be even more difficult. It seems pretty straight forward to me, that if mesmers are fragile in pve, they will be even more so in pvp.

I will add that one of my other characters is a guardian. My guardian is much harder to kill than my mesmer.

The fact that mesmers are still pretty fragile and easily killed indicates that they need whatever evades they can get.

Yeah, my char is 400. Thanks!

Oh! So I can just go ahead and craft whatever exotic jewelry that I buy the recipe for, right?

How do I start getting crafting experience past 400? I have learned an exotic recipe but when I crafted the item, I got no experience at all. Everything in my crafting list, including the exquisite ruby jewel, shows as grey.

I am just wondering when they will take all the buffs back.

There is a line that is said by an npc, where she says “… blow your ship to bone splinters.” I could have sworn, though, that I heard “…blow your s—t to bone splinters.”

I thought that was kind of funny. Yes, I am easily amused!

I never got to the reaper until after the 1st nerf to it, so I never got to see its power in its short days of glory. I briefly tried speccing for as much chill and chill damage as possible and was underwhelmed by it. So, although I still take the reaper trait line and often use the GS, I stopped caring about chill altogether. This latest nerf to chill simply reinforces my previous decision about it.

I got better at it, also, especially with my necro and my ranger. But that is irrelevant, it is tedious. I will occasionally go into HOT just for the heck of it, but I won’t stay there. I certainly have no interest in finishing the story line. I have seen the videos and the fights are just a tedious chore with gimmicky mechanics. No thanks!

Too much work, would have to do content that I have no interest in, and have no interest in crafting.

Which makes balancing all that more difficult. No wonder there are so many balance problems, which is why I think separating the balancing is the answer. I think that it would greatly simplify anet’s job.

Yeah, PU is worthless, also. My point is that I would rather not see suggestions that are bad for pve. Make suggestions that are good for both pve and pvp.

Except confusion is worthless in pve. So no to that!

I can believe it. I doubt that I will ever take my elementalist to HOT. Way too fragile. Probably not my thief either.

I have to agree with insane. I have my engineer carry the hammer but I am now mostly using the flamethrower kit. It is great! It really burns them down. I am sure that it isn’t the best build, but it is good enough for me and I am having fun.

Mesmer’s have a much more difficult time in the HOTLands. I have a mesmer, it used to be my main. Not so much, now. In HOT, I now prefer the necromancer and the ranger, mostly necromancer. My guardian might do well there, also, but it is still in the LS2 story line.

The one to Rule.2593:

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Something like “Can you change your class?” or “Don’t use x trait here because Y is a lot better.” or even “We are looking for a warrior but you entered as a ranger. Change class or leave.” is extremely offensive in gw2.

Yeah how dare you have to work with your team in the most beneficial way instead of being selfish. They really are jerks for asking you to change a trait! next time they might ask you to go in zerker gear to optimize your dps too!

And there it is, a precise example of what we hate about the kind of people who raid. Heck, looking at the guy’s name “the one to rule” tells you everything you need to know about him. (shakes head)

Necromancer is easier than mesmer because the mesmer is so very fragile.

Is the OP doing this as or for a job? Games are supposed to be fun, not work.

Xyonon.3987:

I made you a great open world build wich uses gear you can also perfectly use later in raids, fractals or dungeons:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAs+cnsIClohtfCmfCEgiFVjqsDKhBoOZn2qlMAGhiD-TRCBQBB4BAcGlgVSdFAu/woUpgBnAAso8DAHEg8oXAA-e

Also get yourself a staff if you need range and please please please do not touch the GS!

Greez!

Is this build any good if you mostly solo? Doesn’t seem like it would be. I have no interest in zerging and alacrity seems to me to be pretty darn weak, at least when solo.

I think the chronomancer utilities are useless in pve, at least the open world. Well, not totally useless. They do cause some damage, but no more than using core utilities. But I do like some of the chronomancer traits.

Weird… changed “wizard’kitten” to “wizard kitten”.

It did it, again. Let’s try again. It changed the “hat of the wizard” to “wizardkitten”.

I did buy the wizard’kitten, but it was from gems that I had paid for before HOT came out. I haven’t bought anymore gems, since. I am rather reluctant to spend more real money on a game that appears to be going, in my opinion, in the wrong direction.

I don’t think there is anything passive about the scrapper. Not by a long shot. It is a very active playstyle. I am constantly jumping around, using the tool belt skills, and using the utilities. I really don’t understand the OP’s point here.

Nothing, and not likely to, since I don’t care for HOT.

Fay.2357:

redcomyn.4651:

I am not saying you randomly call for nerfs. I am sure that the ones you have asked for were all well thought out and probably justified…for pvp. They were not required or necessary for pve.

Right here you say that I’ve advocated for nerfs without making them well thought out or justified with respect for PvE. You’re wrong of course, but you did say it, so don’t try to deny that.

Now I know you are screwing with me. I said, right there in the quote you gave of mine, that you did give well thought out requests for nerfs. How can you possibly say otherwise. It is right there in black and white.

On top of that, you’re still just pulling random insults out of thin air. I’ve yet to see a single cogent response from you that actually made your point. I challenge you to find a time when I advocated for a PvP nerf that also reduced PvE capabilities.

I never once insulted you. You have, for some reason, have chosen to be offended, god knows why. I haven’t gone back through the history of this forum to find every comment you have ever made, and I’m not going to. That wasn’t even the point of the rather mild comment that I made that you have blown totally out of proportion.

redcomyn.4651:

Stealth was nerfed,

Nobody cares about stealth in PvE.

Well, true. I never particularly used stealth so that had minimal effect on me. Still, the principle of it is there.

redcomyn.4651:

conditions on illusion death was removed entirely,

REALLY nobody cares about this in PvE.

I certainly cared. I used it extensively. It helped a great deal to keep me out of melee range, at least the crippling part.

redcomyn.4651:

the extra bounce for GS and Staff was removed.

First, you’re wrong. Staff didn’t have the bounce removed. Second, REALLY nobody cares about the GS bounce in PvE.

• Well then I was mistaken about the staff. However, I do care about it on the GS. It did help. Whether you think it was a significant help or not, it still weakened the mesmer.*

redcomyn.4651:

These all have weakened the mesmer. None of these changes were compensated for.

Uh…no. You’re just pointing at random nerfs (and not even being right about them) and claiming that they hurt mesmer in PvE, but you’re totally wrong. On top of that, you’re claiming they hurt open world PvE, where literally all you need is a gs and the 1 key.

And now you are exaggerating. I can’t possibly succeed, especially in the HoTlands, using just the GS autoattack. I would die almost immediately. I also don’t remember off the top of my head all of the nerfs that have happened. Way too many of them. I remembered the stealth one because so many people made such a big deal about it. And the 2nd two were big deals for me. You are just plain wrong about nobody caring about the latter two because I remember the conversations complaining about those changes. You may not have cared about them because you are some kind of super mesmer, but us average folks sure did.

Fay.2357:

You’re so wrong here it’s laughable. Mesmer is required for optimal raid comps, no questions asked. It’s wanted in all fractal runs, and nobody cares about dungeons. 3 years ago we were brought in dungeons sometimes just because nobody else figured out how to do reflects yet.

I have no interest in raids or dungeons. I am only interested in OW PVE, so this is irrelevant.

So if you’re trying to make the argument that mesmer is worse in PvE now than it was before HoT, you can just go ahead and stop right now, because you’re wrong. Additionally the nerfs that targeted PU didn’t touch PvE at all. Mesmer has always sucked in PvE, and PvP nerfs have only exacerbated that issue; they didn’t create it.

Here you admit that mesmer is weak and that pvp nerfs have made it worse.

You’re changing your tune an awful lot. First you said that I advocated nerfs with zero regards to PvE, now you’re saying that it’s Anet’s fault.
Yes, Anet is going to Anet, but you’re playing this game so you’ve got to live with that.

No, I never said that you had zero regard to pve, I only said that you advocated for nerfs for the purpose of pvp balancing. You have admitted to that in this discussion.

I’m not going to stop making intelligent and well-informed suggestions just because imbeciles like a certain friendly thief we all know come to the mesmer forum and complain constantly. If I see something is broken, I’m going to call it as it is, and I’m going to make suggestions that will fix it in a reasonable manner. The alternative is staying silent and hoping that when Anet nerfs it, and they will eventually nerf it, that they nerf it in a good way without any intelligent feedback. They don’t always take intelligent feedback, but they do sometimes, and so that’s worth the shot.

Stealth was nerfed, conditions on illusion death was removed entirely, the extra bounce for GS and Staff was removed. These all have weakened the mesmer. None of these changes were compensated for.

Fay.2357:

And I’m saying you’re totally and completely wrong. I challenge you to find a single instance of when I advocated a nerf that would hurt PvE without discussing compensatory changes to fix that problem.

It’s easy to spout unsubstantiated insults about things, but you’re going to have a very difficult time putting your money where your mouth is on this one.

You may have discussed compensatory changes. Tell me, did it work? I see a weak mesmer in pve, much weaker than it was 3 years ago. I see the results from people (not necessarily you) who thought mesmer was OP or that certain builds were cheesy (you remember about the infamous PU build, right?).

I have never said that you were a bad person or stupid or anything like that. I am saying when people ask for nerfs, even with compensatory discussions, it rarely makes anybody happy. Maybe if Anet had followed your suggestions exactly, we would all be happy, but when has Anet ever done that?

When nerfs are asked for, no matter how you try to make it palatable to everyone, it sets a tone. A tone in which apparently Anet only sees the “nerfs” and not the compensatory changes. And not everyone has been as conscientious as you. In fact, most aren’t. Most people will only talk about the nerfs they want and that is it.

Fay.2357:

I’m going to go ahead and say that you’re lying. I have literally never advocated a nerf to Mesmer in PvE, so your statement is categorically false.

On top of that, I can fully and completely justify any nerfs I have advocated for. I don’t randomly run around the forums screaming ‘Nerf!’ I suggest that something needs a nerf, I suggest a viable method of nerfing it, and I explain the logic behind why that method will accomplish the stated goal without causing undo harm to other situations.

I challenge you to find any examples contrary to what I’ve just stated. Go on, I’ll wait.

I am not saying you randomly call for nerfs. I am sure that the ones you have asked for were all well thought out and probably justified…for pvp. They were not required or necessary for pve. Of course pvp needs class balancing, but pve doesn’t. Every class needs to feel powerful in pve. Mesmer doesn’t. Yeah, the mechanics are fun but the damage sucks, in pve.

You know, this tension between pve’ers and pvp’ers is really simple to solve. The only problem is that Anet has refused to do it. To save a little work, they are willing to live with the constant tension and bitterness and anger between the 2 different populations. This anger poisons, not just the forums, but also the game. I think this is a mistake. I think it will eventually kill the game because most people don’t like that kind of atmosphere.

Fay, you do the same thing, only for the side of the pvp’ers, when you ask for nerfs.

That’s my point!

That would be great, if that was the way it worked out. But you and I both know that it is unlikely to work that way. Anet seems to almost always start by nerfing what you don’t want nerfed. How many times do you have to be hit in the head by the nerf hammer before learning to try to avoid the hammer?

Using the staff is a lot like watching grass grow. Really boring, and not much in the way of damage.

Also, the mesmers have a long history of self hatred. They have always, since practically the beginning, cried for nerfs to their own class. It seems to be just the pvp’ers, though. They seem to always think they are overpowered, or that some particular build is “cheesy”, and yet the mesmer is pretty darn weak in pve.

The mesmer is a pretty unique class. I have never seen anything like it in any games I have ever played. I still play it because the mechanic can be very fun. But now I spend the majority of my time playing other classes because the damage is substandard.

Also the fire (?) trolls will reflect damage. They aren’t called fire trolls, but off the top of my head I don’t remember the actual name.

And just remembered the veteran rock dog thingy that is part of the Maguuma invasion in one of the Charr regions. If you don’t notice it happening, it kills you quick.

The Anet people are themselves hardcore players. They are thus biased toward the viewpoint of the hardcore customer players. I think that they are confusing what they want to play with what the majority of the customers want to play.

Thank you very, very much for the the answer (being voluble for the 15 character limit).